I am a Mirror (poem)

I am a mirror.
Whatever you say
About me reflects on you.
You call me "weak"
because of your weaknesses.
You call me "strong"
because of your strengths.
Reflecting thusly, my silence
is golden always.

You are a mirror
Reflecting on the mind
Entranced by the ego
Until lost in
the dualities
Of Self and Other.

I am a mirror.
Whatever I say
About you reflects on me.
I call you "weak"
Because of my weaknesses.
I call you "strong"
Because of my strengths.
Reflecting thusly, your silence
is golden always.

You are a mirror
Lost in the mind that projects
The ego upon the world,
Until found through
The reality
of Selflessness.

To free the ego grasping
In vain for the object of desire,
Appease the ego with love
Rendered unconditional by Buddha,
Whose smile is contagious
And Whose Nature is true.

What is that mirror
But a single facet
of the diamond mind of Buddha,
And each sparkling facet,
The mind of a bodhisattva
Reflecting on True Self
And the Other as One,
While the ego is appeased.

This is that mirror,
The mind in meditation
Reflecting with the clarity
of the diamond mind of Buddha,
Having appeased the ego
With Four Noble Truths
That led to the Eightfold Path —
Nirvana sets all of us free!

---

Originally posted on Oct 2, 2014 at 5:57 AM

Curing Lust (satire)

Imagine the flesh of someone you lust rotting away, turning into a rotting corpse, and decaying until all that's left is a skeleton of a human being.

Bring this to mind every time you lust for that person until you do not even think of the object of your desire, lest you conjure of that horrible vision of a person dying and rotting, and becoming bone.

I'm pretty sure that such an extreme meditation practice would ruin your libido for good. Indeed, it is a meditation practice for Buddhist monks and nuns. They who faithfully practice this meditation never experience sexual misconduct within a Buddhist monastery.

In a worst case scenario, this practice might be the Buddhist cure for sex addiction, except Westerners mistake meditation practice for religion & mdash; as opposed to Christianity, where a sinner may be shamed and made to feel guilty for natural sexual behavior, which purportedly causes psychological hang-ups and manufactures from one of out of every twenty-five church members a sociopath who might work his way up in the religious hierarchy.

A priest becomes a sociopath when he breaks his celibacy vows, and lies to his bishop. A bishop becomes a sociopath when he turns church bingo into a multimillion-dollar business. A Pope becomes a sociopath when he hides being a soldier in a war in his youth.

However, being gay does not stop a man from becoming a priest. It might cause him to fight for the rights of all living beings on this earth. It all depends on the man.

Perhaps this meditation could be modified for drug addiction: just imagine the worst-case scenario where you take your drugs in a homeless shelter and are prey to black boys speaking Haitian Creole.

Sure, like that's going to work.

If you believe in the fallacy that "all sociopaths are evil" when the truth is, only unsuccessful sociopaths are deemed evil by Western society when they get caught. Once caught, these people might be thrown under the bus by a few mainstream media journalists who promote a moral panic about sociopaths under the guise of responsible journalism.

Sometimes, karma is a bitch when you let lust control your life, be it for sex, drugs, and even money. Most of the time, we think the libido is normal and natural, and that repressive means of controlling it is tantamount to the abuse of a person's individual human rights.

It is not psychological abuse for Buddhist monks and nuns to practice this kind of meditation, because they do so willingly. Yet it would be abuse if such meditation practices were mandatory for unprepared people, even in a clinical setting.

This is why no Buddhist organization endorses such a practice, and rely only on the Five Precepts of the Buddhist code of ethics (abstain from killing, abstain from theft, avoid sexual misconduct, abstain from false speech, and abstain from consuming alcohol and drugs).

For this meditation practice is not for laypeople, and could potentially harm any Buddhist who practices it outside of a monastery. I do not endorse its practice, but mentioned it here to show how preposterous it would be to serve as the cure for lust.

It is safer for the Buddhist practitioner to practice the Five Precepts than to become a monk or nun in a Buddhist monastery. Indeed, it is harmless, provided the practitioner keep all the precepts and practice them diligently while repenting from minor infractions (lying, gossipping, and consuming alcohol and drugs).

Perhaps this explains the practice of Pure Land Buddhist practitioners who chant the Buddha's name (Nianfo or Nembutsu) to burn off the evil karma of past wrongful actions. In this way do they purify their mind. For this is a path of easy practice that helps them achieve peace of mind.

In my opinion, these diverse Buddhist practices of chanting and meditation are examples of sexual sublimation, and positive expressions of libido.

YMMV

---

References:

Five Precepts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Precepts

My Life as a Jack Mormon (satire)

“Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is in vain; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” — Joseph Smith, Jr - History of the Church, 4:553–557

From this quote, baptism shows God, angels and heaven that the baptized does the will of God. Along with faith in the Christ and repentance, it is the only way God has ordained me to come to him to be saved and enter the kingdom of God.

Repentance means that I am committed to not sinning by following Mormon precepts and values. However, there is some leeway here since I am currently an unbaptized prospect.

It is only during times when I am tired or stressed that I might be tempted to sin, but have overcome alcoholic use because I have barely used alcohol for about seven weeks. I stopped smoking completely, and resisted all relapses. Hot drinks require only time for them to cool down; therefore I have kept that Mormon precept. As for dangerous drugs, I currently do not use any of them. Thus I keep the precepts about alcohol, tobacco, hot drinks, and dangerous drugs.

As well, I have even decided to keep chaste, mainly because I am sure that prayer and meditation will help me resist temptation.

Mainly because of prayer and meditation is all of this possible. However, faith in the Christ helps me to maintain repentance, preparing me for baptism in a few years.

Even so, a Buddhist who adheres to Mormon precepts is but a Jack Mormon. For I am not a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Having attended Sunday meetings at the local meetinghouse, I have become friendly towards Church members and Mormonism, having sympathized with them, and have taken an active interest in their belief system, even though much of how I view Mormonism is seen through Buddha eyes.

Of course, "Buddha eyes" is metaphor for "seeing and understanding life with a caring and compassionate heart".

This comes through regular meditation to develop the calm mind necessary for seeing with the heart until I understand that life is meaningful due to suffering when it inspires us to see the truth about suffering. and reject the vain grasping of desire that is "evil passion", which is merely the act of mental calculation to commit error and thus "sin".

Therefore meditation is heavy duty prayer, and merely giving thanks to God is enough to begin my meditations, which help keep me focused on living like a Mormon. Although it would be impossible for me to completely think like a Mormon, I know that it is not in my nature to be radically conservative.

Indeed, I would rather balance the conservatism of Mormon thought with the liberalness of Buddhist humanism, for the ecumenism of Mormonism does counterbalance its conservative elements.

My path into Mormonism however is not a course in vain. Rather, it is a cautious journey into a religion that not only has conservative elements in it, but also liberal elements. In my heart, I know that Mormonism isn't just a fad for me. It has drawn from my own Buddhist faith to help enlighten my understanding of the Mormon way, which ranges from conservative to liberal.

Returning to baptism, "unbaptized" reminds me of the phrase "the unwashed masses" — I used to be one of them. Even though I remain "unwashed", in my heart all those sins are being washed away by keeping the Mormon precepts.

Perhaps one day when I am baptized the gift of the Holy Ghost that is promised will help prepare me for becoming a full member of the Mormon faith.

Indeed, today I feel like I truly belong, because Mormons have come to know and love me. They even pray for me, and I am thankful for that.

Just as in Mormonism, thanksgiving is a vital part of my Buddhist faith. I know that much of that faith will help "fill in the blanks" where Mormon literature preaches the Christology, though I will tactfully refrain from filling in the blanks for Mormons.

Yes, I admit to adhering to religious pluralism. However, the light that shines before the world is the spiritual light of what Mormons call the Christ. I would call it Buddha Nature, which also may be described in terms of water as the drops of each person's faith that mingle together into an ocean of pure compassion.

For no matter what faith I was born into, the tenets of Buddhism are the core elements that inspire me to yield to what Mormonism wishes of me, provided I continue to purify my mind through meditation so that all that is Mormon fits with all that I know of Buddhism. This means the Pure Land will akin to the Celestial Kingdom as a destination in the afterlife where the faithful Mormons go to receive spiritual guidance from the Christ.

Will I forget about baptism? No, but my continued association with the Mormons will be worth the change of faith. As for now, I am satisfied with my life as a Jack Mormon, balancing Zen and Mormonism.

---

Reference:

Jack Mormon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Mormon

The Essence of Buddhism Reincarnation (satire)

In essence, the consciousness-stream is an evolving consciousness which on death, becomes one of the causes that contribute to the arising of a new aggregation.

Death is known as dissolution of the aggregates.

At the death of the previous personality, a new personality is born, like the flame of a dying candle used to light the flame of another. The new person's consciousness is neither identical to nor entirely different from that of the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream.

Transmigration is due to karma or volitional action and its basic cause is the abiding of consciousness in spiritual ignorance. When ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ends.

However, this consciousness-stream is not a soul and has no permanent existence apart from the body.

Since transmigration is due to karma (action), the stream is actually of a temporary spiritual nature. It is not the primary reason for meditation. Hence not all schools of Buddhism promote reincarnation.

As for spiritual ignorance, this consists of ignorance of the first Buddhist truth that life is full of suffering. Denial of this basic truth is what leads to ignorance. Acceptance of this truth leads to the second truth, that suffering is due to ignorant craving. Knowing that ignorant craving leads to suffering results in realization of the third truth, that suffering can be ended. In the fourth truth are the Eightfold Path in ending suffering. These truths are known as the Four Noble Truths.

In the Eightfold Path are the following divided into three parts, consisting of Wisdom (right view and right intention), and Ethical conduct (right speech, right action, right livelihood) and Concentration (right effort, right mindfulness, tight concentration).

Meditation is said to aid in ending spiritual ignorance.

---

Reference:

Reincarnation: Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation#Buddhism
Four Noble Truths: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths
Eightfold Path: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eightfold_Path

Meditation - Journal Entry: September 30, 2013 at 10:02 PM

Be excellent in all
That you do, and accept
Everyone as Buddha
Without question. O!
No one is as splendid
As the bodhisattvas.

Egoless due to daily meditation,
I hold no delusions about being a god.
For what is ego but a tool to wield for liberation?
He who wields Ego wisely uses it to benefit everyone.
What is evil but utter confusion?
What is good but true understanding?

Although all of what I write
Is metaphorical, it is
For the good of us all,
Even the white lies which hold
The Truth occulted by evil karma.

Truth arises from
The pure mind, cleansed of evil
Through daily practice
Of calm abiding and
Mindful reflection on Truth.

Achieve the pure mind
By letting go of desire
Through skillful means.
All it takes is to repeat
The Nembutsu sincerely.

For the Nembutsu
Is the tool of cleansing, and
Purifies the mind.
Wield it kindly when saying
The Nembutsu, the Name-that-calls.

He who utters the Name-that-calls
Is merely moved by the Buddha
Calling to all of humanity.
With each calling his mind is
Cleansed of anger arising from
Desire until the Pure Mind
Arises, shining bright like
The moon rising after sunset,
And the sun rising in the morn.

All things in the universe
Are impermanent,
And there is no soul at all.
Instead, there is but
The Eightfold Consciousnesses.

Buddha Remembrance As Easy As Meditation

Buddha remembrance consists of Buddha recitation which is when the Buddhist laypeople gather together to chant the name of the Buddha.

If they are devoted to the Lotus Sutra as in the lay Buddhist sect of Soka Gakai then they chant "Namu myoho rengé kyo."

If they are of the Jodo Shinshu sect then they chant the Nembutsu ("Namu Amida Butsu").

By chanting the Buddha's name the devotees become mindful of the Buddha.

Thus is Buddha recitation Buddha remembrance.

It is said that Buddhist chanting is the easy path to enlightenment for all sentient beings.

For all sentient beings are destined to become bodhisattvas since such sincere devotion shown by chanting the Buddha's name is a fee definite sign that the Buddha is calling through his devotees.

Small wonder that the Nembutsu is known to the devout Shin Buddhist as the Name-that-calls.

As well,  Buddha recitation is called the easy path in contrast to the hard path of Zen mediation.

Thus are there two paths to Enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism.

Pure Mind Leads to Nirvana

Maitreya said, "Discrimination is consciousness. Nondiscrimination is wisdom. Clinging to consciousness will bring disgrace but clinging to wisdom will bring purity. Disgrace leads to birth and death but purity leads to Nirvana."

"Discrimination" refers to discriminating and holding views. To the Buddhist, discrimination is a wilderness, a turmoil, a clinging, a bad path and a false way. He who travels on it will not achieve nirvana, even if he becomes a Buddhist. A mind filled with discrimination is a mind that is always in turmoil.

No matter how long he meditates, the man who discriminates will not achieve through samatha the calm mind necessary practice vipassana meditation with success. For vipassana helps the Buddhist achieve the Pure Mind.

"Pure Mind" is achieved by "abandoning the killing of living beings, abstaining therefrom; abandoning the taking of what is not given, abstaining therefrom; abandoning misconduct in sensual pleasure...abandoning false speech...malicious speech...harsh speech...gossip, abstaining therefrom. Abandoning greed, he is no more greedy. Abandoning malevolence and hatred, his heart becomes free from ill will. Abandoning wrong-view, he
becomes one of right view.”

"Consciousness" refers to rebirth in the six realms of desire, which is the destination of people with a mind of discrimination, which results in an impure mind. Thus "discrimination is consciousness" implies that discriminations leads to the evil karma associated with rebirth.

It is good karma to achieve nirvana, since the goal of Buddhist practice is to escape the wheel of karmic existence that is rebirth. For hard is it to achieve nirvana, and most consciousnesses are destined for rebirth due to evil karma from both past and present existences.

"Nondiscrimination" is associated with the mind tamed by samatha practice, for a calm mind is a mind of clarity. With a clear mind, it is possible with vipassana meditation to achieve Pure Mind.

"Wisdom" refers to fruit of the Pure Mind. For a Buddhist who has achieved Pure Mind is freed from the bonds of discrimination and the evil karma arising from acts of discrimination. Indeed, discriminations results in evil karma for anyone who acts upon it. Anyone who holds the discriminating view is sure to becloud his mind, judging other people and acting out of the ignorance that such discrimination causes. For ignorance is the result of evil karma due to discrimination.

Thus vipassana helps the Buddhist with his mind calmed by samatha practice to abandon the six worldly dusts of killing, theft, misconduct in sensual pleasure (including sexual misconduct such as adultery, child abuse, rape and sexual deviancy), wrong speech (lying, gossip, criticism, verbal abuse, and greed), ill will (malevolence and hatred), and wrong views.

Freed of the six dusts, the Buddhist becomes wise through practice of samatha-vipassana. This is why it is important to not just practice samatha and achieve the calm mind. For the Buddhist who practices samatha meditation is like a farmer who plants soy and other legumes to make a field fertile. After the season of soy is over, he can plant rice and flood the land to obtain rice and other grains, provided he alternate with grozing legumes on it. Likewise, the practice of samatha meditation not only prepares the mind of a Buddhist for vipassana meditation, it also helps him to deal with the challenges of daily living. Thus, samatha-vipassana meditation not only prepares the Buddhist to achieve Nirvana, it also prepares him to become a better person than he would be were he a farmer ignorant of Buddhist practice.

Thus "nondiscrimination is wisdom" means the abandonment of the six dusts which frees the Buddhist from ignorance and the cycle of rebirth. With continuing practice of samatha-vipassana meditation he can then understand that "clinging to consciousness will bring disgrace but clinging to wisdom will bring purity."

With the Pure Mind achieved through samatha-vipassana meditation, the Buddhist will realize that "disgrace leads to birth and death but purity leads to Nirvana."

For what is birth and death but the cycle of rebirth in Samsara, the Six Realms of Desire? And what is the Pure Mind but the means by which the Buddhist achieves Nirvana?

So go forth and practice meditation, knowing that your practice will result in the Pure Mind. Indeed, with the Pure Mind, the Buddhist shall achieve Nirvana!

---

References:

East Asian Yogācāra - Later history and the modern era: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_Yog%C4%81c%C4%81ra#Later_history_and_the_modern_era

Discrimination: a Buddhist perspective: http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs14/Paul_Fuller.pdf

Confronting Narcissism: The Truth Will Set You Free (satire)

For the sake of this article, there are two types of personalities, the narcissistic and the neurotic.

While this is a simplistic notion of human personality, it suffices. Why? Because an in depth discussion of narcissism and neurosis is outside the aim of this article.

Besides, readers of the social media Twitter tend to have short attention spans.

Also note that anything in bold is the truth that will set you free.

YMMV

Anyway, I'd like to think of narcissism and neurosis as two extremes of what is called human personality.

Neurosis is completely normal, even when a person is limited by anxiety and even worse, phobias. For such limitations are easily overcome simply by practice.

Of course, it is easy for me to say this because I've overcome both anxiety and phobias, mainly by applying Frank Herbert's Litany of Fear to help conquer both the anger that is the root of anxiety and the fear that is the root of phobias.

In contrast, narcissism is abnormal. Narcissistic people are manipulative people. who maintain the egocentricity of youth but have morphed it into narcissism.

However, the egocentric personality believes that the whole world revolves around him, while the narcissist often has a strong sense of entitlement, self-esteem, and the insatiable desire to live his life out by manipulating other people.

Often the narcissistic person believes he is superior to other people, but is willing to manipulate anyone into believing in his superiority.

It's most likely that egocentricity is a component of depression, since the depressed personality tends to view the world through the distorted lens of his illness.

Often narcissism manipulates neurosis in a person who chooses to love a narcissist.

Love will not change a narcissist into a decent human being who empathizes with you and loves you as much as you love him.

Stop lying to yourself because it does not work that way. That is magical thinking, as is love that is blind to the faults of the narcissist.

Early on in any relationship, be it friends or lovers, it is up to you to present the truth about his behaviour as you see it and establish strong boundaries with him.

If he harms you in retaliation (by ignoring it or insulting you) then present the truth again in an even voice and maintain the same strong boundaries.

If this leads to sexual assault, then he broke through those boundaries because he has no respect for you and for your boundaries. Report it to the authorities and break all contact with him. This involves blocking all calls and messages from him. It may even involve learning a martial art, and expecting the unexpected.

If, on the other hand, your neuroses limits to your options to reliance on a friend or mate for emotional support and/or protection, then choose your friends wisely. Do not make the mistake of calling your new boyfriend a policeman, since it could worsen the situation.

Be aware that he will use every trick in the book to manipulate you into forming a bond with him.

Ask for advice from people who know him well, including family and friends. Even his former lovers have good advice.

If you have fallen into the habit of being jealous of rivals, then he will use this against you to "prove" that you love him more than they ever did.

Confronting the narcissistic takes courage but anyone who lets love guide her heart in such matter had better be mentally and physically prepared for the consequences.

Otherwise, you are going to be manipulated into serving him forever.

Whatever I just wrote about heterosexual relationships also applies to homosexual relationships. Manipulative people come in many flavors of gender.

Regarding my advice about not making the mistake of calling your new boyfriend a policeman, the Raoul Moat case in England was an example of a narcissist whose rage against his former partner Samantha Stoddart was fueled by the fact that she'd fibbed to him by calling her new boyfriend a policeman when he was actually a martial arts expert. The real tragedy is that her new boyfriend is dead.

This brings me to relationships with a narcissist. Should a narcissist and a neurotic ever hook up, they may eventually desire to have children.

If the narcissist believes his neurotic wife to be paying too much attention to the child, then he may become jealous of that child.

Eventually it may lead to child abuse, and he will have exercised enough control of his wife to manipulate her into avoiding any confrontation him because she fears the emotional and physical abuse that he uses on her "to keep her in line."

Instead, the neurotic will undergo a lot of stress, which will present itself in overwork, obesity, alcoholism and even prescription drug abuse.

Along the way, she may develop ulcers and eventually cancer. However, the first symptoms will be anxiety and panic attacks, along with phobias. There also will be Stockholm Syndrome, in which she protects her husband in spite of the abuse when offered help.

As well, the narcissistic husband will gaslight the neurotic wife which may lead to involuntary admission to psychiatric wards, where neurotic hospital staff will be manipulated by the husband into believing that her statements of abuse by him are due to medication.

This is why both hospital staff and associated social workers should be trained in detecting narcissists.

IMO I believe some children of narcissists do establish boundaries with their caregivers early and get mistreated as their relationship evolves into becoming the black sheep of the family.

In contrast, narcissistic caregivers who nurture their child to point of narcissism goes beyond normal childcare. Since the children are mere extensions of the caregiver, the behaviour of her child will be controlled to reflect positively on her.

A narcissist will believe that the reason why her child cries is to distract attention from her. She also learns that feeding the child keeps it quiet. If a narcissist is an addict, she may even give her drug of choice to her child to keep it quiet, be it food, alcohol or recreational drugs.

Indeed, a lot of narcissists are social drinkers. Some of them are even recreational drug users, and a few narcissists are both.

In a cruel world, a narcissistic caregiver could be likened the mother of all evil.

I also believe that ego addiction is the root of egocentrism but ego addiction in manipulative people can be overcome after the narcissistic personality is controlled. This can only happen if the person seeks help.

However, I do not believe meditation is a cure-all for narcissism and manipulative people, but rather a preventative since it will lead them to flee when offered to them. Again, meditation will only work if a person humbly seeks it.

Shunyata (poem)

Shunyata is Emptiness.
In the Western definition,
"Emptiness" seems sad and lonely,
yet, as the Buddhist term,
Emptiness is found in creating
happy thoughts to help
learn from the past,
and look forward to tomorrow,
because anything is possible.

Shunyata is when the disciple
understands with his very being
that all phenomena is
empty of inherent existence.

Shunyata is openness.
Openness suggests open-mindedness,
and the potential of becoming Buddha.
All the disciple is required
to do is to practice
the two-fold meditation
of shamatha-vipassana,
the meditation of the calm mind
and insight meditation

Shunyata is when the disciple
first meditates to calm his mind,
and when his mind is clear,
seeks insight by just sitting.

Shunyata is thusness,
tathata, suchness, Dharmata.
When Gautama became the Buddha,
he referred to himself as Tathagata,
the one who arrives at suchness,
the appreciation of the true nature of reality,
and is liberated from Samsara,
this world of birth-life-death.
For shunyata is the seat of nirvana.

Shunyata is when the disciple, inspired by
the Four Noble Truths, understands Dependent Origination,
and is determined to achieve Buddhahood and
aspires to rescue all sentient beings as Bodhisattva.

---

Reference:

Shunyata: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81

Enlightenment is Always With Us

From birth until death, the potential of Enlightenment is present within all sentient beings as Buddha Nature.

During life, mental and physical negativities arise as afflictions to distract us from it, due to the ego's grasping onto the illusion of permanence.

These negativities leads to suffering due to the Five Poisons of desirous attachment, aversive anger, and delusive ignorance, and their daughters, pride born out of ignorance and desire, and jealousy arising attachment and aggression.

The Five Poisons are the destructive emotions.

Through meditation and mindful practice of wisdom, the charitable acts of kindness to help, and the loving sacrifice in service to other sentient beings aid in satisfying the ego, pacifying it.

Once the ego is pacified, the mental and physical negativities are replaced with the antidotes of love, compassion and insight,which are strengthened through practice and training.

Buddha Nature represents the essential nature of the mind, which is pure and undefiled by the destructive emotions.

When joy comes easily, and the mind is easily calmed through meditation, the antidotes have succeeded in curing it of the Five Poisons.

For that joy arises due to Buddha Nature, the seed of Enlightenment itself.

Thus Enlightenment is always with us, like the pure white light of freedom.

---

References:

The Gandavyuha Sutra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatamsaka_Sutra#The_Gandavyuha_Sutra
Five poisons:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleshas_%28Buddhism%29#Five_poisons
  
• http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Five_poisons
  wli>http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Disturbing_emotions
  

Buddhist Protectors of the Desire Realm

In Mahayana Buddhism, the protectors of the world are known as lokapalas and the great kings who guard the four sides of Meru are called caturmaharajikas.

Lokapala is derived from the Sanskrit word "lok" (people) and "pala" (protector/caretaker), or "caretaker of people."

Caturmaharajika means four great kings "whose abodes are the four sides of Meru, and who also serve as protectors of the world", and refers to "guardians of the world", specifically the four guardian kings of Mount Meru. They are also known as the four heavenly kings, and are said to "currently live in the Cāturmahārājika heaven ... on the lower slopes of Mount Sumeru, which is the lowest of the six worlds of the devas of the Kāmadhātu."

As the Four heavenly kings, they are "the protectors of the world" who fight off evil, "each able to command a legion of supernatural creatures to protect the Dharma."

The Four Heavenly Kings consist of:

• Vaiśravaṇa (Kubera), he who hears everything, protector of the North, whose followers are yakṣas ;
  
• Virūḍhaka, he who causes to grow, protector of the South, whose followers are kumbhāṇḍas;
  
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he who upholds the realm, protector of the East, whose followers are gandharvas; and
  
• Virūpākṣa, he who sees all, protector of the West, whose followers are nagas.
  

In the Chilas I, 82:12. Inscription is the mantra "Om devadharmoyam priyasurasya" which means "homage and devotional offerings to Priyasuras" — probably puja consisting flowers and food offerings were made in ancient times. Priyasuras is defined as "Beloved Asuras", asuras being the lowest deities and demigods of Kāmadhātu. Rather than worship of them, the four heavenly kings symbolize the following aspects of the mind and their resulting conducts:

• Vaiśravaṇa represents generosity and wealth, providing freedom by way of bestowing prosperity;
  
• Virūḍhaka represents the growth of belief in the Buddha and faith in his Dharma:
  
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra represents the maintenance of the mindful state through meditation; and
  
• Virūpākṣa represents the vigilance of the mind by keeping the Five Precepts.
  

---

References:

Originally posted: September 20, 2003 1431H
Update edited: March 2, 2013 1853H

Lokpal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokpal
Lokapalas and caturmaharajikas in Chilas und Thalpan (Nordpakistan); http://www.thewalt.de/lokapala/lokap_engl.htm
Four male gate keepers: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Four_male_gate_keepers
Four heavenly kings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Heavenly_Kings
Guardians of the directions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_directions
Five Precepts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Precepts#Chinese_Mahayana_texts

Craving for sensation

The one who beholds that which has become as become
Passes beyond that becoming
And is released from craving for sensation.
In that which really is, he understands becoming.
Free from longing for birth or death,
He finds the true meaning of the end of becoming.

-Itivuttaka Sutta

"The one who beholds" is the disciple sitting in insight meditation whose mind is single-mindedly focused on attaining nirvana.

"That which has become" is tathata, the state of awakening in mind and in body.

When such a person views the Buddha as awakened, sh/he transcends the single-mindedness of samadhi.

In transcending nirvana, s/he lets go of vainly grasping and loses all "craving for sensation."

Having realized true Dharma as Truth, s/he "understands becoming."

Being liberated "from longing for birth and death", such a person discovers "the true meaning of the end of becoming", nirvana.

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Originally published: November 23, 2005 2351H
Updated: February 26, 2013 0928H

Reference:

See also: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/iti/tb0/index.html#glossary

Dhyana

Hui Neng said:
In our system of meditation,
we neither dwell upon the mind
in contradistinction to
the Essence of Mind nor upon purity.
Nor do we approve of non-activity.
As to dwelling upon the mind,
the mind is primarily delusive;
and when we realize that it is only a phantasm
there is no need to dwell on it.
As to dwelling upon purity,
our nature is intrinsically pure;
and so far as we get rid of all delusive 'idea'
there will be nothing but purity in our nature,
for it is the delusive idea that obscures Tathata (Suchness).
If we direct our mind to dwell upon purity
we are only creating the delusion of purity.
Since delusion has no abiding place,
it is delusive to dwell upon it.
Purity has neither shape nor form;
but some people go so far as to invent the 'Form of Purity',
and treat it as a problem for solution.
Holding such an opinion, these people are purity-ridden, and
their Essence of Mind is thereby obscured.
Those who train themselves for 'imperturbability' should,
in their contact with all types of men,
ignore the faults of others.
They should be indifferent to others' merit or demerit,
good or evil, for such an attitude accords with
the 'imperturbability of the Essence of Mind'.
A man unenlightened may be unperturbed physically,
but as soon as he opens his mouth he criticizes others and
talks about their merits or demerits, ability or weakness,
good or evil; thus he deviates from the right course.
On the other hand, to dwell upon our own mind or
upon purity is also a stumbling-block in the Path.

Mind-stream is Conciousness-stream

Mind-stream is epitome of non-self because consciousness is empty of a permanent self.

Mind-stream also is consciousness-stream.

Basically, Buddhist practice leads to consciousness of a practitioner to return to consciousness continuum. think of continuum as transit hub to Buddha worlds such as Pure Land of Bliss which is where Amida Buddha resides.

Practice consists of meditation, chanting of the Name of Amida, and chanting of sutras related to Amida Buddha.

On follower's parinirvana (physical death) follower's consciousness returns to continuum and goes to Pure Land.

This is called rebirth in the Pure Land.

Overmedication in Psychwards: Its Cure

A hospital psychward demands order.

That's why they're medicated.

Most psychiatric professionals are not in the business of administering therapy in such a setting because working in such a setting only makes them chump change.

Besides most of them know that psychoanalysis usually does not "cure" a patient but merely ensures that he'll be back for more of the same.

Medicating patients in a psychward is more efficient use of resources, and often more humane than the mental hospitals of the past.

Sadly though, the reason why most patients are in a psychward is because nobody actually listens to them and takes care of their needs at home.

Sometimes, a psychward actually has caring professionals to give the minimum of care.

That is because it is difficult to inculcate a caring and compassionate attitude in the profession.

You either have it or you burn out.

For the whole purpose of medication is to avoid burn out, because even a caring professional will be overwhelmed by the horror stories some of the mentally ill have to tell.

If it weren't for the fact that most parents haven't gotten their shit together and take out their unresolved issues on their children, the world would have less rates of mental illness than they currently!

20 percent of people == 1.3 billion worldwide who have a mental illness, which in itself is evidence of child abuse and neglect in their immediate families.

When we learn how to effectively address the risks which lead to abuse and neglect, that'll be when the rates go down.

However, it is the stress of a fast-paced society that breeds mental illness due to ineffective coping skills.

That may be because public education is a fast-paced stream of academics lacking even the basics of teaching kids how to handle stress.

However, I'll bet you teaching them the basics of meditation can and will help to reduce transforming benign schizotypies into mental illness.

And I'll be you too that in nations where the people are obligated to spend five years of Buddhist training (become monks and nuns) before being allowed to become householders probably have lower rates of mental illness than secular nations that manufacture consumers who are first and foremost obligated to become productive members of a fast-paced society, often without giving them a wide range of coping skills to deal with stress.

Of Buddhist Retreats and Psychiatric Wards

With respect to Buddhist retreats and psychiatric wards, a few people who attend such retreats might consider them to be similar to psychiatric wards in jest. For humor is the best way to get over the fact that we are born mad and that a Buddhist retreat will cure such madness.

For such madness cannot be cured by medication or by incarceration in a psychiatric ward, but by learning meditation.

In essence, such madness is considered normal in Western society. I think they call it consumerism, and in its extreme, people end up not only packing on the pounds but also stuffing their homes full of knick-knacks only useful in making a homey maze.

However, Buddhism is a toolkit for escaping into reality from the madness called Monkey Mind which all people develop in response to the distractions of their ignorant experience with reality, of which consumerism is a symptom.

What you and I think is reality is merely a consensual pseudo-hallucination.

We can never experience true reality directly because it has been known to leave some people mad, ready to do violence to themselves and others out of fear of the consensual madness we confuse for reality.

Yet the trauma of a child's life adds to this reality's misery leading to mental disorder and other issues. That we deprive a child of useful coping mechanisms is atrocious. Buddhism could provide a very effective coping mechanism, yet the anti-religion police have deemed Buddhism a religion and have borrowed meditation to be used by the willing without the religious trappings.

Sometimes they appears that they teach a form of meditation to the people in the psychiatric wards with medication enhancing the meditative part immensely. All any patient actually needs is a sound therapeutic instructions to help with recovery.

Thus is a psychiatric ward considered a psychiatric retreat for people who have been scarred by their childhood traumas. All we need is to provide a text on psychology to help people recovering from their childhood traumas understand how their mind works.

I've yet to see this happen in a psychiatric ward. Rather than therapy, a psychiatric ward depends on order and the medically expedient way to maintain that order is through sedation. For it seems as though the majority pf patients find a psychology text to be useless in preventing their madness from returning.

I disagree: the majority of patients tend to develop insomnia due to anxiety arising from fear. Insomnia leads to hypomania, which is useful in its overall productivity but once it morphs into mania, it's of no use at all. Once a person enters the psychotic state, there's no use in waking him up to reality, because his psychotic state of mind has built a useful substitute called "psychosis".

In no way does a text on psychology describe this path to madness. Instead, we're told that adequate rest is important to maintain healthy sleep. Yet the chain from fear to psychosis can be easily broken by administering a sedative to promote sleep. However, a few psychotic people fear sedatives because of the manic delusion that they are sane and an underlying fear that adequate rest would ruin their substitute for reality.

Yet few sane people are able to tolerate being awake for 24 hours because of the auditory and rarely the visual hallucinations attendant to sleep deprivations.

Meditation helps in this case, because it provides a way of using the hallucinations to benefit the psychotic. In Vajrayana Buddhism, there are divinities known as wrathful deities. They may represent a person's negative emotions such as anger, desire, fear, lust, and passion. Whatever their description is, it implies that a person who hears of it choose the harmless way of managing it as described in the Buddhist text.

I propose that the visions and voices a psychotic sees are actually his negative emotions, and are quite harmless. Indeed, the most expedient method of handling these hallucinations is to satisfy them by neutralizing them with their opposites while the mindful practice of loving-kindness.

In the rare case where psychosis is comorbid with psychopathic violence, strong sedatives may be recommended because of risk of harm.

Overall, the use of Buddhist psychology in Buddhist retreats would benefit its participants. However, meditation would only be of limited use in out-patient clinic since Western psychology mistakes certain behavioral aspects of Buddhist meditation to be abnormal due to the limits that Western psychology places on the mind i.e. the incomplete bio-chemical model of the human mind.

For the current Western medical model of the mind is inadequate to help Buddhists with their underlying psychological conditions which is more easily explained by Buddhist psychology.

Indeed, when the social model of the human mind is combined with the bio-chemical, this complete model of the mind is best explored with the tool of Buddhist psychology, meditation.

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Originally published: November 1, 2007 1525H
Update posted: February 26, 2013 0943H

Reference:
Welcome to the Vipassana Sanitarium: http://welldoneprocrastinator.blogspot.ca/p/welcome-to-vipassana-sanitarium.html

Joy Arises

In the unthinkable, inscrutable, ordinary nature of reality there is no difference between freedom and bondage. No matter what arises, when you perceive your original nature, the joy arises automatically--and what joy!

-Shabkar, "The Flight Of The Garuda"

It is prudent to remain full of joy as much as possible.

Freedom and bondage should not determine nor be a condition of your joy.

Thus is it the intense focus of meditation on one single thing in one's life that help bring about this joy spontaneously.

This is the fruit of true mind control.

Pure Mind is True Mind / True Mind is Pure Mind (poem)

the true mind is the pure mind,
from which bliss arises naturally
after decades of active meditation.

with harmlessness and spontaneity
its fruits, flavored by diligent mindfulness,
the devotee might briefly savor such purity
during meditation before returning to face the world
filled with equanimity and compassion,
having pierced the delusions of mindlessness,
ready to spread the joy of the well-examined life.

as these fruits arise out of mindful contemplation,
the one-pointed mind awakens to this subtle truth:
the pure mind is the true mind.

Consciousness as Creator

Mind precedes & initiates all phenomena,
mind is their chief, mind is their maker...
When one speaks or performs an action
with a mind that is internally all pure,
then happiness & pleasure follows,
like a shadow that never departs...

Dhammapada 2: "Phenomena are preceded by the heart, ruled by the heart, made of the heart. If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart, then happiness follows you, like a shadow that never leaves."

Difficult to detect and very subtle,
mind can seize & take up any object,
so let any wise being guard the mind,
for a guarded mind brings happiness...

Dhammapada 36: "Let the discerning man guard the mind, so difficult to detect and extremely subtle, seizing whatever it desires. A guarded mind brings happiness."

Neither mother, nor father, nor any other
family member can do greater good both
for oneself and for others as well, than
the well controlled & directed mind...

Dhammapada 43: Whatever a mother, father or other kinsman might do for you, the well-directed mind can do for you even better.

Where's the Horse?

Q: I can observe anger and work with greed, but how does one observe delusion?

A: You're riding a horse and asking "Where's the horse?" Pay attention.

-Ajahn Chah

In this quote by the Buddhist monk Ajahn Chah, the horse refers to the fettered mind, full of delusion.

For the purpose of meditation is to relieve the mind of spiritual delusion, leaving it unfettered.

Thus, the question - "How does one observe delusion?" - shows inattention.

Like a rider on a horse,
I ride in control of my mind.
I rise above anger, greed, and delusion
with attentive concentration.

Like a rider on a horse,
I ride in control of my mind.
Free of fetters, the mind cares
for the body to become as one.

Like a rider on a horse,
I ride in control of my mind.
In taking care of the body,
the mind discovers unconditional love.